MrFang wrote:dewtu335 wrote:Hi Mr.Fang, I've been reading a lot of explanations and so far yours sounded the most coherent and made the most sense! I started off with tons of questions but now I just have a few. So just to clarify:
1. The jump that Ariadne made in level 4 was sort of unnecessary right? because she was supposed to be brought back by the explosion anyway.
2. If so, then how come Cobb did not wake up with her due to the explosion/collapse? I know he wanted to stay behind and find Saito. If Cobb didn't wake up in L3, it means that he had to kill himself somehow before the collapse woke him up to go to limbo where Saito's waiting for him, right?
1. The jump that Ariadne made WAS unnecessary, though I didn't see it as a jump. She felt the kick from the level above (you can tell because suddenly the weather became crazy and buildings started falling apart), and just gave in to the force of the kick. When you watch it a second time, notice that she never hits the ground in level 4; instead, the background sort of flashes and she wakes up in level 3.
2. Cobb didn't wake up because his encounter with Mal left him unsure of which reality he wanted to remain in. This questioning threw him into a limbo-ish sort of state, such that he was able to resist the kick. Kicks can definitely be resisted, remember, because the entire team resisted the kick when the van went off the bridge. They noticed that the kick was happening, and decided to ignore it, essentially, because they needed to finish the mission. Likewise, Dom resisted the kick and chose to remain behind with Mal in limbo.
JonnyT23 wrote:Good evening ladies and gentle man, (we are tonight's entertainment). I only have one question... Why didn't Fischer getting shot in dream world #3 (the snow fortress) kick him back into dream world #2 (the hotel), if in fact getting killed kicks you out of a dream within a dream (under weaker sedatives, just like Ariadne could to escape dream world #4)?
See above. Ariadne didn't kill herself. Only Fischer died in level 4, and he did that to escape limbo. As I explained at the beginning of this thread, one can escape limbo by killing oneself; however, it's very difficult and dangerous to do because the very nature of limbo is that the dreamer believes it to be reality.
Also of note: the sedatives were the same in all levels; thus, if you are not already in limbo, getting killed will throw you into limbo, no matter what level you're on.
Think of it like this: There are two dream-states, lucid and limbo. Within lucid dreams, the subconscious (and, most times, the conscious) are aware that the person is in a dream; however, within limbo, neither the subconscious or the conscious is aware that it is in a dream. Normally, getting killed in a dream will eliminate that level's dream-self. The subconscious has nowhere to go but up, thus kicking the subject out of that level. However, under heavy sedation, the next level's self has difficulty waking up, forcing the subconscious to go in the opposite direction: one level deeper. Because the level above has been eliminated, the self on this new, deeper level has no memories at all of where it came from or why it's there, thus throwing it into a state of limbo in which it is unable to differentiate between dreams and reality. The only way to escape is to die, thus kicking the subconscious one level higher once again.
This raises the question, "Why does killing yourself work in limbo?" Well, the self in the level above cannot be under heavy sedation. Fischer was not, when he died; his body was dead, and being resuscitated. Thus, when Ariadne tossed him off the roof, he was kicked to the level above into a freshly living body that was--importantly--not sedated. The same is true of Saito and Dom at the end. Saito's age reveals that he has been in limbo for just about long enough for the sedative to wear off, thus allowing himself to awaken unimpeded. Likewise, Dom and Mal were not sedated when they accidentally slipped into limbo. This allowed them to escape by lying down in front of the train.
Which leaves one question: How did Dom escape from level 4 if he resisted the kick and was sedated in the level above?
I have no idea. But quite frankly, the man's a badass. He found a way.
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